Wildflower (forb) · Brassicaceae
Limestone bittercress
Cardamine douglassii
Limestone bittercress is recorded as native to 18 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 346 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Limestone bittercress at a glance
- Native in
- 346 counties, across 18 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 1 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Limestone bittercress is recorded as native to 18 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 346 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 346 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 2 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Illinois 23 counties
- Indiana 46 counties
- Kentucky 48 counties
- Massachusetts 1 county
- Michigan 38 counties
- Missouri 10 counties
- New Jersey 2 counties
- New York 17 counties
- North Carolina 5 counties
- Ohio 79 counties
- Pennsylvania 19 counties
- Tennessee 17 counties
- Virginia 13 counties
- West Virginia 8 counties
- Wisconsin 17 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 1 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 24 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 6 to 7.7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- High
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 130
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Purple
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Early Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Brassicaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CADO
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Cardamine douglassii (PLANTS symbol CADO).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources